As they say, the people have spoken. The “50 Years, 16 teams. The Gold Standard” Courier & Press boys’ basketball contest has reached the quarterfinal round after first-round voting has been completed.

Here are the Elite Eight matchups:

1982 Bosse (27-1) vs. 2004 Mater Dei (21-6)

1990 Bosse (24-3) vs. 1989 Harrison (19-2)

1983 Bosse (24-1) vs. 1967 North (27-2)

1999 Harrison (21-3) vs. 2015 Reitz (29-2)

Before the tourney started, I made the 1982 Bosse team, led by Derrick Dowell, the No. 1 overall seed. The 2015 Reitz team, led by Jaelan Sanford and Alex Stein, was the No. 2 overall seed. Will they meet in the finals?

The only upsets (by seeding) in the first round were 1983 Bosse over 2007 Bosse (Class 3A state runner-up) and 1999 Harrison over 2001 Mater Dei (3A state runner-up) Both were No. 2 vs. No. 3 matchups. The easiest link to vote is by using: courierpressblogs.com/goldstandard. The quarterfinal voting deadline is noon on Saturday.

Of course, this contest elicited much debate, on Facebook among other avenues. I asked people to email me at Gordon.engelhardt@courierpress.com, but did not get a host of responses. One of the biggest complains is that the 1962 Bosse state championship team was not included. As I continually pointed out, the contest was for the past 50 years: 1967-2017.

Here’s an emailed comment from Kenneth Kreke: “Fine to limit this to last 50 years, but it leaves out the BEST year in Evansville basketball...1962....Bosse state champs....North with 30-plus ppg Dave Schellhase and Rex Mundi with big Tom Niemeier. Those three teams really battled it out all season.”

Former Purdue All-American Dave Schellhase drives to the basket against South Dakota in a mid-1960s game at Lambert Fieldhouse.(Photo: Journal & Courier file photo)

Schellhase led the state in scoring as a senior (30.5) and paced the NCAA in scoring as a senior at Purdue (32.5). He was a consensus All-American as a senior and played two years for the Chicago Bulls.

Other folks have told me that 1967 was the best year ever in the city. Three teams were ranked in the state’s Associated Press top 10 and North – a team that wasn’t ranked – went on to win the state title. The Huskies’ Bob Ford went on to star at Purdue and played for the Memphis Tams of the old American Basketball Association. Harrison’s Vaughn Wedeking started at point guard and Greg Nelson was sixth man on Jacksonville’s NCAA runner-up to UCLA. Bosse’s Larry Weatherford started at Purdue.

Some tell me that 1982 Bosse is the best team ever and fans of more recent vintage insist the 2015 Reitz team is the best ever. Still others claim it could be 1983 Bosse or ’89 Harrison. But the ’83 Bosse team lost to Princeton in the regional and the '82 Bulldogs were rewarded for advancing to the single-class state semifinals.

The ’89 Harrison team was the lone team among the 16 that didn’t even win a sectional. They got a special pass because they were 16-0 and ranked No. 2 in the state when the great Calbert Cheaney suffered a broken foot and their postseason hopes went up in smoke.

One more interesting note: the 1983 Bosse team was ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today at the beginning of the season. That’s quite a feat, considering that the 1983 Baltimore Dunbar team is considered perhaps the best high school team ever assembled. Dunbar featured three future NBA first-round draft choices: Reggie Lewis, Reggie Williams and Tyrone “Muggsy” Bogues.